Many, like Chuck Richardson, are members of the North Carolina Archaeological Society. “We may not be able to give a precise name to the groups that were here and that left the beads, but clearly by telling the story, we're kind of emphasizing that this place wasn't abandoned, it was still cared for, and the people still had a connection to it,” says Fitts.Ī rotating team of about a dozen people came each day throughout the week to help unearth that history. These finds help dispel those notions and piece together a fuller story of the people to whom this site was special. “The interpretation that most people hear and that is kind of standard is that the mounds were built about a thousand years ago or so, and then people were here for a few hundred years after that,” says Mary Beth Fitts, an archaeologist with UNC-Chapel Hill. WFAE Archaeologists find three beads like this that were made in Europe in the 1700s. They help show the site has a long history. The team also found a bunch of European smoking pipes from the same time. What’s so significant about them is that they were made in Europe during the 1700s and were traded between colonists and American Indians. Sometimes a stitch would break and one would drop to the ground. He tells the kids to imagine thousands of these sewn onto clothes and jewelry. It's got a clear glass middle and then red glass wrapped around it,” says Cranford. It's made out of two different kinds of glass. The kids lean in as Cranford balances it on his palm. But one of the most telling finds is so small the screens barely caught it – a glass bead. There are a lot of broken pieces of pottery and stone flakes. Several other members of the team push dirt through screens and bag any possible artifacts to study later. WFAE Team members push excavated dirt through screens to find any small artifacts.Ī couple of archaeologists kneel, scraping away the soil in a series of meter squares that correspond to a GPS grid. And that’s what we’re interested in as archaeologists.” “Because the things that you eat every day, the things that you make every day and throw away, those are the things that can tell us a lot about how you lived your lives. “Believe it or not, we love finding ancient trash!” Cranford tells the kids. They found two of those pits on the week-long dig. They’re also looking for discolorations in the soil that show where posts that formed structures once stood or mark pits where people threw trash. David Cranford of the state Office of Archaeology tells students who visited while the dig was underway that they’re looking for artifacts like pieces of broken pottery. The site within the stockade has been reconstructed, but not much is known about the area surrounding it where this team is digging. Now, it’s a state historic site where school groups come to learn about life then. Most of that is known through what archaeologists have unearthed here over the past 85 years. This is thought to be the scene around the year 1300. You're going to see craftspeople weaving baskets, making clothing, a flint knapping stone into tools that can be used for hunting,” says Thompson. “You're constantly cooking food to keep the people fed. Several feet below the mound a few hundred people lived out their daily lives, surrounded by a stockade of tall posts. Thompson says only a select few American Indians could gather on the mound and those included dignitaries from other villages. The mound includes a reconstructed structure. The competition made both publications better.”Ĭranford graduated from UNC-Chapel Hill in 1980 and worked in New York for five years at Institutional Investor’s newsletter division, covering the bond market, before coming to Charlotte in 1987 and freelancing.WFAE Town Creek Indian Mound would draw dignitaries from outlying villages for political discussions. “I will miss covering the news and competing against the Observer. “It’s been fun to witness and report on the growth of the city and the business community,” said Cranford in an email to Talking Biz News. He also had some editing responsibility for the paper’s website and previously worked as a reporter. He previously was assistant managing editor, primarily responsible for content of special reports, special publications and the viewpoint page. 31.Ĭranford has been at the paper for 26 years. The Charlotte Observer, which first reported the news, said his departure was due to a “downsizing move” at parent company American City Business Journals. Steve Cranford, the print editor of the Charlotte Business Journal, is leaving the paper.
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